Workers Win Their First Case Before the Roberts Court: In a case that perhaps attracted more attention than usual because it was Chief Justice Roberts' first oral argument and participation in an opinion, workers recently scored a unanimous Supreme Court victory in the case of IBP v. Alvarez. While workers probably shouldn't expect too many unanimous victories from the Roberts Court, once in a while it's nice to have one that the Justices view as a no-brainer. While ten or fifteen minutes a day of previously unpaid work time may not sound like much, over time, it can add up to a significant amount, for which workers deserve their full compensation.

During a continuous workday, any walking time that occurs after the beginning of the employee?s first principal activity, such as the donning of protective gear, and before the end of the employee?s last principal activity is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); however, the time employees spend waiting to don the first piece of protective gear that marks the beginning of the continuous workday is excluded from FLSA coverage.